Many vegetables contain meaningful amounts of protein, with the highest options delivering 3 to 4 grams per 100-gram serving. That won’t rival a chicken breast, but vegetables can meaningfully contribute to your daily protein intake, especially when you eat a variety of them alongside other plant-based sources like legumes and whole grains.
The Highest-Protein Vegetables
Among true vegetables (excluding legumes and grains), the top performers cluster around 2 to 4 grams of protein per 100-gram raw serving. Here’s how they stack up:
- Alfalfa sprouts: 4 g protein, 23 calories
- Brussels sprouts: 3.4 g protein, 43 calories
- Collard greens: 3 g protein, 32 calories
- Spinach: 2.9 g protein, 23 calories
- Mustard greens: 2.9 g protein, 27 calories
- Broccoli: 2.8 g protein, 34 calories
- Watercress: 2.3 g protein, 11 calories
- Asparagus: 2.2 g protein, 20 calories
- Cauliflower: 1.9 g protein, 25 calories
- Bok choy: 1.5 g protein, 13 calories
These numbers are per 100 grams raw, which matters because leafy greens weigh very little by volume. A cup of raw spinach is only about 30 grams, giving you less than 1 gram of protein. Cook that spinach down, though, and you can easily eat 200 to 300 grams in a sitting, which gets you closer to 6 to 9 grams. The same applies to collard greens and mustard greens. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts are easier to eat in larger portions even raw, making them more practical protein sources in a typical meal.
How Vegetable Protein Compares Calorie for Calorie
You may have heard the claim that broccoli has more protein per calorie than steak. The math doesn’t actually support this. Per USDA data, 100 grams of steak delivers about 22.7 grams of protein and 139 calories, working out to roughly 0.16 grams of protein per calorie. Broccoli provides 2.6 grams of protein and 39 calories per 100 grams, or about 0.07 grams per calorie. Steak wins on protein density by a wide margin.
What vegetables do offer is protein alongside very few calories, plenty of fiber, and a range of vitamins and minerals you won’t get from meat. They’re best thought of as protein contributors rather than protein centerpieces.
Edamame: The Standout Plant Protein
If you broaden the definition slightly to include legumes that are eaten like vegetables, edamame is in a different league entirely. One cup of shelled, cooked edamame (about 155 grams) packs 18.4 grams of protein. That’s comparable to a serving of meat or fish, and it’s the reason edamame shows up in so many plant-based meal plans.
Soy protein is also among the highest quality plant proteins available. A scoring system called PDCAAS rates how well your body can digest and use a protein source, with 1.0 being the maximum. Soy consistently scores between 0.93 and 1.00, putting it on par with animal proteins. Pea protein scores slightly lower, around 0.78 to 0.91, but is still considered a strong plant source.
Amino Acid Quality Varies by Vegetable
Protein is made up of amino acids, nine of which your body can’t produce on its own. Most individual vegetables don’t contain all nine in ideal proportions, which is why nutrition guidelines emphasize eating a variety of plant foods rather than relying on a single source.
That said, some vegetables have surprisingly well-balanced amino acid profiles. Cauliflower protein contains near-ideal levels of several essential amino acids, including some that are commonly low in plant foods. Broccoli and sweet corn also deliver strong profiles in certain amino acids. On the other end of the spectrum, carrots are deficient in all essential amino acids, meaning their small amount of protein is also low quality. This doesn’t make carrots unhealthy, it just means they aren’t contributing much to your protein needs.
You don’t need to obsess over combining specific foods at each meal. Eating a reasonable variety of vegetables, grains, and legumes throughout the day gives your body access to the full range of amino acids it needs.
Mushrooms Pack More Protein Than Most Vegetables
Mushrooms aren’t technically vegetables (they’re fungi), but most people cook and eat them like one. On a dry-weight basis, common mushrooms contain far more protein than any vegetable, averaging around 24 grams per 100 grams of dried mushroom. White button mushrooms range from about 30 to 40% protein by dry weight, and oyster mushrooms come in around 18%.
Fresh mushrooms are roughly 90% water, so the protein content per serving is lower in practice. Still, a generous portion of cooked mushrooms adds a few grams of protein to a meal, and their savory flavor makes them a natural fit in dishes where you’re trying to reduce or replace meat.
Practical Ways to Get More Protein From Vegetables
The key to getting meaningful protein from vegetables is volume and variety. A stir-fry with broccoli, edamame, and mushrooms over rice can easily deliver 25 or more grams of protein from plant sources alone. A large spinach salad topped with chickpeas and sprouts adds up faster than you’d expect.
Cooking matters too. You’ll eat far more spinach, kale, or collard greens when they’re sautéed or steamed down than when they’re raw. A cup of raw spinach gives you under a gram of protein, but several cups cooked into a side dish can contribute 5 to 8 grams. Roasting Brussels sprouts or broccoli at high heat also makes it easy to eat larger portions, since the caramelization adds flavor that keeps you reaching for more.
If your goal is to hit a high protein target on a plant-based diet, vegetables alone won’t get you there. But combined with legumes, tofu, tempeh, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, they become a meaningful part of the equation rather than just a side thought.